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LOTE hosts ‘Spring Fling’ Fashion Show

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One of the models shows an ensemble provided by Belks. ED FRANKS
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Another model “walks the runway” during the LOTE Fashion Show last week. ED FRANKS
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Sarah Sciple and Helen O'Rourke-McClary at the LOTE?“Spring Fling” Fashion Show. ED FRANKS

By ED FRANKS

efranks@breezenewspapers.com

The Ladies of the Elks held their last fashion show of the season – a “Spring Fling” Fashion Show and luncheon.

More than 100 women filled the hall at the Elks Lodge last Thursday afternoon for lunch. Afterward the ladies modeled the latest spring fashions: dresses, pants, shirts, blouses, jackets and blazers, shorts and capris and lots more. The spring fashions were provided by Belks.

Proceeds from the fund-raisers hosted by LOTE go directly to island charities with an emphasis on island children.

In addition to the fashion show, LOTE honored fellow Pine Island/Matlacha residents Sarah Sciple and Helen O’Rourke-McClary. Sciple and O’Rourke-McClary will both be honored by the PACE Center for Girls. The PACE Center for Girls of Lee County is holding its 2014 Grande Dames Tea Party Friday, April 4, to honor women that “honor the female spirit.”

The Ladies of the Elks is a small group of about 80 women that donates its time and efforts to benefit the community by raising money through several seasonal events: fashion shows, card parties, musical events, etc. The cost of events ranges between $10 and $20 per person and all events but the Christmas Party are held at the Elks Lodge at 5630 Pine Island Road, NW, (just west of Pine Island Center).

Last year the Ladies of the Elks raised approximately $8,000.

April is the final event of the season with a pot-luck luncheon and donations to the Pine Island Food Pantry.

Past beneficiaries of these events include: Pine Island Elementary School, through the school basket brigade, incentive program and emergency shoe fun (The emergency shoe fund is for children that are very needy. If a teacher sees that a child needs a new pair of shoes, the child is sent to the nurse, who supplies them with the correct size); Fellow Islanders Sending Help (F.I.S.H.); Pine Island Food Pantry, Lee County Recreation Department ;and the Pine Island Elks Lodge for children’s therapy.

The Ladies of the Elks meet on the second Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. at the Elks Lodge.

For more information, contact Vice President Sue Eslinger at 239-283-7849.